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Runway

docs/providers/runway.md

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OpenClaw ships a bundled runway provider for hosted video generation. The plugin is enabled by default and registers the runway provider against the videoGenerationProviders contract.

PropertyValue
Provider idrunway
Pluginbundled, enabledByDefault: true
Auth env varsRUNWAYML_API_SECRET (canonical) or RUNWAY_API_KEY
Onboarding flag--auth-choice runway-api-key
Direct CLI flag--runway-api-key <key>
APIRunway task-based video generation (GET /v1/tasks/{id} polling)
Default modelrunway/gen4.5

Getting started

<Steps> <Step title="Set the API key"> ```bash openclaw onboard --auth-choice runway-api-key ``` </Step> <Step title="Set Runway as the default video provider"> ```bash openclaw config set agents.defaults.videoGenerationModel.primary "runway/gen4.5" ``` </Step> <Step title="Generate a video"> Ask the agent to generate a video. Runway will be used automatically. </Step> </Steps>

Supported modes and models

The provider exposes seven Runway models split across three modes. The same model id can serve more than one mode (for example gen4.5 works for both text-to-video and image-to-video).

ModeModelsReference input
Text-to-videogen4.5 (default), veo3.1, veo3.1_fast, veo3None
Image-to-videogen4.5, gen4_turbo, gen3a_turbo, veo3.1, veo3.1_fast, veo31 local or remote image
Video-to-videogen4_aleph1 local or remote video

Local image and video references are supported via data URIs.

Aspect ratiosAllowed values
Text-to-video16:9, 9:16
Image and video edits1:1, 16:9, 9:16, 3:4, 4:3, 21:9
<Warning> Video-to-video currently requires `runway/gen4_aleph`. Other Runway model ids reject video reference inputs. </Warning> <Note> Picking a Runway model id from the wrong column produces an explicit error before the API request leaves OpenClaw. The provider validates `model` against the mode's allowlist (`TEXT_ONLY_MODELS`, `IMAGE_MODELS`, `VIDEO_MODELS`) in `extensions/runway/video-generation-provider.ts`. </Note>

Configuration

json5
{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      videoGenerationModel: {
        primary: "runway/gen4.5",
      },
    },
  },
}

Advanced configuration

<AccordionGroup> <Accordion title="Environment variable aliases"> OpenClaw recognizes both `RUNWAYML_API_SECRET` (canonical) and `RUNWAY_API_KEY`. Either variable will authenticate the Runway provider. </Accordion> <Accordion title="Task polling"> Runway uses a task-based API. After submitting a generation request, OpenClaw polls `GET /v1/tasks/{id}` until the video is ready. No additional configuration is needed for the polling behavior. </Accordion> </AccordionGroup> <CardGroup cols={2}> <Card title="Video generation" href="/tools/video-generation" icon="video"> Shared tool parameters, provider selection, and async behavior. </Card> <Card title="Configuration reference" href="/gateway/config-agents#agent-defaults" icon="gear"> Agent default settings including video generation model. </Card> </CardGroup>